Cisco Live TFDx 2024 - Meraki and Catalyst Wireless, Better Together!

I was lucky enough to be invited as a delegate to Tech Field Day at Cisco Live EMEA 2024. I have always loved participating in these events as I spend a lot of time with people who know more about networking than I do. If you ever get the chance, jump at it! In fact, you can nominate yourself by heading to this page.

One of the first sessions was looking at bringing your 9800 WLC into Meraki for monitoring - something I’ve wanted for years! This will simplify things so that a helpdesk engineer can do things easily, like taking a packet capture, tracking client roaming, etc. with no CLI needed (and all the other stuff needed to download the .pcap once you’ve done it)!

The first thing I was impressed with was that there is no additional cost for doing this! You can use the DNA licensing you already have. This is a great solution for companies that don’t have the scale, technical expertise or budget to set up a DNA-C (Catalyst Centre) appliance. Just take the kit you already have and add it to the Meraki Dashboard.

It’s super simple to set up, you just enable the Meraki Cloud service via the GUI and then copy your Meraki claim code into the dashboard. You’ll be able to choose which Network to add it to (or add a new one), and it’ll do the magic in the background; your WLC and APs will show in the Meraki Dashboard. You’ll see all the same stats as you do with native Meraki APs (if you have the advanced DNA license).

In the future, Meraki mentioned they’ll bring image upgrades, Config deltas, change history, and CLI access. These are all significant steps to efficiently managing your on-prem solution via Meraki’s cloud platform. I think this is a massive win for most Cisco customers. It’s there if you want it, don’t worry if you don’t.

The best thing in life is the ability to choose… now Cisco will let you have your cake and eat it!